Quadrumvirs
In ancient Rome, quadrumvir (Italian: quadrumviri) was an elective post assigned to four citizens having police and jurisdiction power, elected by the Roman Senate. The term is related to triumvir and duumvir, respectively describing a post of three and two people, which gave rise to the better-known extant terms "triumvirate" and "duumvirate".
At the beginning of Italian Fascism, they were a group of four leaders that led Benito Mussolini's March on Rome. They were all involved in the Fascist party under Mussolini and had been involved in politics and/or war in the period leading up to the Fascist dictatorship. They were:
- Michele Bianchi, a revolutionary syndicalist leader
- Emilio De Bono, a leading Italian general who had fought in World War I
- Cesare Maria De Vecchi, a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, as well as a colonial administrator
- Italo Balbo, a Blackshirt leader and leader of the Ferrara Fascist organisation